EurasiaNet | 6 April 2010

Kyrgyzstan: Bakiyev Confronts Political Crisis

Protesters rally in Talas on April 6

Unrest erupted on April 6 in the northwestern Kyrgyz town of Talas, where protesters stormed a government building, eyewitnesses told EurasiaNet.org. Witnesses reported seeing and hearing gunfire in central Talas late at night on April 6, as security forces sought to retake the provincial administration offices. Protesters who had occupied the building were said to be resisting the assault using Molotov cocktails and other improvised weapons, according to an eyewitness. At 10 pm, the administration building was seen to be on fire. The blaze was subsequently extinguished, according to local reports.

In the early evening, roughly 200 police officers succeeded in driving out protesters from the administration offices, but the protesters quickly retook the building, an eyewitness reported. “The opposition is organized,” the eyewitness said. “When they [protesters] were pushed out the building, they were able regroup and mount a second assault.” The eyewitness also suggested that the protesters might have access to weapons and other equipment. “I just saw a young man carrying riot gear, including helmet and shields, to the demonstrators,” the eyewitness said.

Security forces tried to drive protesters out of the administration building a second time, but it was not immediately clear if the clearing operation succeeded. Gunfire reverberated throughout the center of the town but then stopped. One witness said members of the security forces fired live ammunition as they were withdrawing from the center of Talas. Some local sources reported that 30 people had been injured in the violence, including one man with two gunshot wounds. Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reported that two protesters had died.

In Bishkek, authorities rounded up opposition leaders, including Omurbek Tekebayev and Almazbek Atambayev. The decision to take opposition figures into custody appeared designed to forestall planned anti-government protests on April 7.

One witness in Talas, a member of the Ak Shumkar (White Falcon) opposition party, claimed the crowd that took control the provincial administration building was 4,000-strong. Other eyewitnesses told EurasiaNet.org the number of demonstrators was closer to 1,000.

At 7:20 pm another eyewitness reported that speakers in Talas’ central square were addressing a crowd using a jury-rigged speaker system: “Right now there is a woman talking, and her words echo the language of 2005 for [former president Askat] Akayev, but now it’s for Bakiyev. They are shouting ’Down with Bakiyev,’” the witness said, comparing the April 6 events to the popular uprising in 2005 that forced Akayev from power in 2005. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In the evening, rumors began circulating that two planeloads of special security troops had been dispatched by the government and were preparing to move into the town center. One witness said that, despite the possibility of a clash, the crowd of protesters in Talas was growing. Many intended to stay in the square overnight.

Earlier, an Interior Ministry spokesman asserted that the government remained firmly in control of developments in Talas. “Nobody stormed anything, there was a crowd of drunk people who entered the provincial local government building and they left the building right away,” the spokesman told EurasiaNet.org at 5pm. “Now, everything is under control of the law enforcement bodies.”

The Talas protest appears to be rooted in popular discontent over recent state-mandated hikes in the cost of heating and electricity. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. However, two recent developments may well have emboldened protesters to take to the streets: the first was a national gathering, or kurultai, held in Bishkek in late March, that turned out to be a political miscalculation for Bakiyev. The president had intended the gathering to serve as a demonstration of his political strength, but, instead, participants aired criticisms of his administration’s policies. Second, and more importantly, Bakiyev has come under a withering barrage of criticism from Russia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Overnight on April 6-7, a sense of political uncertainty hovered over the country. Although a heavy security presence could not be detected in Bishkek, the capital, as night fell, police and Interior Ministry forces were reportedly beefing up their presence in provincial centers around the country. Meanwhile, opposition leaders pledged to carry out demonstrations nationwide on April 7, protesting not only the recent price hikes, but also alleged widespread government corruption.

Heightening the sense of uncertainty, Bishkek reported trouble accessing the Internet late on April 6. Earlier in the evening, many news websites were being blocked, and a generally pro-governmental television channel, Kanal 5, went off the air. diesel.elcat.kg, also was difficult for users to access.

Source: EurasiaNet

See also: Reuters Story